By Neera Chandhoke
The one political party in India that has grasped the importance of working in constituencies between elections, sustained a dedicated cadre, and established like-minded “service” organisations is the BJP. It has damaged the body politic, normalised vocabularies of hate, eroded democratic institutions, and subverted the Constitution. Still, we must take the organisation of the BJP seriously to understand how and why it wins elections despite maladministration, corruption, and crony capitalism. The party is unhealthily obsessed with power. This is not worthy of emulation. What is noteworthy is the indispensability of the party organisation to its evolution. This was once the provenance of the Left and of the Congress during the freedom struggle. Regrettably, no more.
Election experts attribute the BJP’s massive victory in the recent Assembly election in Maharashtra to the women’s vote, and the institutionalisation of the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana in the aftermath of a general election in which the ruling alliance was shown in a poor light. The incumbent Maharashtra government, following the Madhya Pradesh model of Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana, began to deposit Rs.1,500 monthly in the bank accounts of women. The amount is certainly not impressive, but it protects households from utter destitution.
The puzzle here is that other parties also hand out money to voters, or at least promise to do so. The strategy has become a soft option that liberates parties from accountability. They hold no responsibility for failing to provide the preconditions of a dignified life, that is, remunerative work. Karl Marx wrote that human beings realise agency though labour. But this is an aspect that political parties are not particularly bothered about today. They would rather hand out taxpayers’ money and make that the sum of their obligation to citizens.
This story was originally published in frontline.thehindu.com. Read the full story here.
